Beautiful
by Charlie O'Kelley
Summary: Rick sees Kate in the hospital, quite a bit of her, and tells her how beautiful she is.  This story is Rick's POV, Kate's POV is in the companion piece The Scar.  This was a plot bunny that jumped in my brain at 3am this morning. Hope you enjoy.


Rick sees Kate in the hospital, quite a bit of her, and tells her how beautiful she is. This was an idea that came to me at 3:00am on 7/27/11. I'm just shocked that I managed to get it all written and posted by the end of the day. Even more shocking is that I got the companion piece in Kate's POV done also. Both stories will be posted separately.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or the characters.

* * *

><p>Beautiful<br>I walked quietly into Kate's hospital room with more flowers, balloons, and cards but there was no Kate. She wasn't napping, as she usually had been this time of day so I quickly dropped my bundle of well wishes and was nearly out the door to check with the nurses when I heard it. I waited just a moment outside the half open bathroom door before I looked inside. There she was standing in front of the mirror looking at her wound, tears streaming down her face. She was silent except for the random sniffle that caught my attention. Before I could stop myself, I pushed into the bathroom and walked up behind her. Kate quickly jumped to pull her robe back together then wiped at her tears.

"What are you doing here Castle?" she asked clearly not thrilled that I got quite a big glimpse of her.

"Dropping off more flowers and stuff for you. I couldn't find you and got a bit worried."

"Castle, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. Besides, it's not like I can go anywhere," she said with obvious irritation. Her eyes met mine in the mirror and the tears were replaced by annoyance.

"I know but I still worry," I said as I leaned forward a bit to grab her a tissue but I surprised her.

Kate startled and in the confines of the bathroom we lightly bumped together. My left hand went to her hip to offer her support as I gave her the tissue. Two things then surprised me, first she wordlessly took it and second, she didn't bolt from my touch. I watched her in the mirror as she dried her eyes then wiped her nose. She tugged her robe a bit closer together reminding me that she had been crying over her wound. Knowing that I was taking a huge chance, I softly called her name so her eyes would again meet mine through the mirror. I kept my eyes focused on hers, refusing to look elsewhere as I pulled at the belt of her lightweight robe.

"Castle, what are you doing?"

"Shhh. You are beautiful, Kate."

"Castle, she said with great annoyance. "I really don't think-"

"No," I insisted. My voice softened but emphasized each of the following words. "You are beautiful."

Kate didn't say anything but I could see by the expression on her face, she totally did not believe me.

"This," I said indicating her wound with one hand. "This doesn't change that."

"Castle," she said her eyes dropping.

I pulled her a bit closer to me, her robe finally parting completely, her hands moving to cover her wound. My eyes remained focused on her face. My peripheral vision told me that she wasn't wearing anything other than plain white cotton panties under her robe. As much as I wanted to look at the rest of her displayed in the mirror, I knew this wasn't the time.

"Do you know what I think is the most beautiful thing about you?" I asked her softly, my face beside hers.

"No," she said but I knew what she was thinking.

"Guess." She rolled her eyes at me but I needed her to say it.

"My body," she said looking away and trying unsuccessfully to tug the robe back together.

"Wrong. It's your heart," I said as I lightly placed my hand over her heart. "Your mind, just _you_. Your body doesn't make you beautiful; you make your body beautiful."

This time her eyes stayed locked to mine even though they welled with more tears. She slowly lowered her hands, finally letting me look. I looked down but then soon looked back into her hazel eyes. I could see a lot of emotions going through her eyes. I longed to know what she was thinking but I knew it was best to give her the time to say it on her own.

"It really doesn't matter what you look like, Kate." I hoped that she could understand how unimportant that scar was to me. Yes, I thought her body was beautiful but there was so much more to her than that.

"Even if I get fat?" she surprised me with a joke.

"Even then," I said my mind suddenly imagining her heavily pregnant and while I knew that wasn't what she was meaning, it still didn't matter.

"You'll never get to see me in a bikini now," she said trying to instill some more levity into the conversation.

"No fair! I exclaimed as I gave her a gentle squeeze. "You know I don't care about the scar, right?" I said suddenly serious again.

"You might not but I do," she said softly. She pulled the robe closed and I moved by hands to lightly tie the belt for her then left them on her hips.

"You do realize that I take that as a challenge," I said unable to resist the slight half smile.

"A challenge?"

"Yeah, I'm going to consider it my job to make you not think or worry about any scars."

"That might take a long time, Rick," she said as she turned slightly in my arms to look directly into my eyes. I swallowed as she said my name. I loved hearing her say it. Didn't she realize that I would take as long as she needed to make her understand that? "Are you up to that challenge?" she asked.

I lightly touched her cheek, wiping away a stray tear and I said the one word that I knew would be the best.

"Always."

The End


End file.
